We've written before on the imposition of religious practices on health care delivery. In those two instances, the issues were (over-)sensitivity to patients' religious needs, and didn't impact their actual care.
A while back, Dr Ford had a sobering post on the future of euthenasia, and the ethical issues that surround letting patients die (or even encouraging them to do so).
What happens when theological considerations directly impact not only the type of care, but active euthenasia?
Such is the problem facing the Canadian health care system:
On one side, Winnipeg's Grace General Hospital, a 100 year old, 270-bed institution serving a diverse community.
On the other side is Samuel Golubchuk, an 84 year old Orthodox Jew currently on a respirator, and whose prognosis isn't particularly hopeful.
Because of his apparently failing health, Grace General wants to detach him from the respirator to save precious health care dollars by hastening his death.
Okay, that's probably not fair. How about: Because of his apparently failing health and advanced age, Grace General wants to detach him from the respirator in order to maximize the (limited) resources at its disposal to make them available to younger and potentially more viable patients.
This is called "rationing."
It's also at the center of a controversy about where the state's authority (after all, it's a nationalized system) and one's religious beliefs meet. You see, according to Orthodox practices ("halacha"), "removing a feeding tube from a patient who has any brain function is active euthanasia, equivalent to murder."
And there's this: Mr Golubchukhas signed an advance directive (living will) that specifically requests that he be kept alive. Thus, the state is impinging on both his religious beliefs and his autonomy as a Canadian citizen.
We may argue all day long about the value and benefit of spending untold dollars to prolong the life of an octogenarian, but one thing that should send chills down the spine of anyone who still thinks that a gummint-run health care system is a good idea:
"A Grace General Hospital lawyer told the court that doctors "have the sole right to make decisions about treatment - even if it goes against a patient's religious beliefs."
Indeed.
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